For tethering, It turns out "Connect PC to internet" option in the USB settings does not work x(Instead, put it in "Ovi Suite" mode and connect via the ovi suite.

For USB mass storage mode, basically if you connect it in USB mass storage mode the 16gb internal drive becomes unavailable to Symbian while it is connected to the computer. So if your applications were installed to mass storage, they will become unavailable as well and the phone will think the applications disappeared. Similarly, if your wallpaper had also been on the internal drive, it becomes unavailable as well. When you unplug, after a few moments it should go back to normal.

I've found the stock Adobe Reader (courtesy Quickoffice) that came with the phone to be rather limiting, as it does not support fullscreen or text reflow.

However, I'm unable to decide between PDF+ or Adobe Reader LE 2.5, anyone have used either or both of these apps? PDF+ Basic is significantly cheaper, but it only supports PDF v1.4 whereas the Reader LE 2.5 supports 1.5. I'd also be curious to know which is faster/more responsive. Allaboutsymbian last compared them 3 years ago, so I'd appreciate a more up to date comparison if anyone knows of one.

Thanks!

PS Downloaded Viewranger GPS topographical/outdoor GPS app - seems pretty nifty, although the available offline maps are pretty limited - UK, US, Belgium, Finland, Ireland, France, Norway, Germany, New Zealand, Netherlands, Slovenia, Sweden and Switzerland. Other locations still work as long as there is a net connection you can stream online maps from, but that's less than ideal in an app that is supposedly designed for outdoor use - if you can't find a signal, you can't get maps (although you can cache).

AlternateReader is a free open source PDF and DJVU reader. It has fullscreen view, granular zoom levels and auto-resume, all things the stock N8 Reader lacks. No text reflow though (also missing on stock reader).

Still, being able to use all the screen real estate makes the device a *lot* more comfortable to use as a reader. It does take a little bit of time to process each page, but once it's loaded, panning is very fast.

codedivine wrote:For tethering, It turns out "Connect PC to internet" option in the USB settings does not work x(Instead, put it in "Ovi Suite" mode and connect via the ovi suite.

Hmm may be I will try that, thanks. Any info on whether Nokia will fix "Connect PC to internet" then?

codedivine wrote:For USB mass storage mode, basically if you connect it in USB mass storage mode the 16gb internal drive becomes unavailable to Symbian while it is connected to the computer. So if your applications were installed to mass storage, they will become unavailable as well and the phone will think the applications disappeared. Similarly, if your wallpaper had also been on the internal drive, it becomes unavailable as well. When you unplug, after a few moments it should go back to normal.

So this is a well-known problem? Voldenuit did you see this too?

Voldenuit wrote:AlternateReader is a free open source PDF and DJVU reader. It has fullscreen view, granular zoom levels and auto-resume, all things the stock N8 Reader lacks. No text reflow though (also missing on stock reader).

Nice find. I will have to check it out. Too bad there is no setting for PDF files in the "default application" setting though. Can I open the PDF with AlternateReader when I am under FileManager?

Another bug: have anyone seen Battery Monitor showing "Analyzing... Active usage time (-1%)"? I am staring at it right now and I wonder if you guys have seen it too. At one point I uninstalled the app and reinstalled. It seemed to come back. Now it is just normal use and I am just a little less than 10% battery left and it's going crazy on me again.

The Model M is not for the faint of heart. You either like them or hate them.

codedivine wrote:For USB mass storage mode, basically if you connect it in USB mass storage mode the 16gb internal drive becomes unavailable to Symbian while it is connected to the computer. So if your applications were installed to mass storage, they will become unavailable as well and the phone will think the applications disappeared. Similarly, if your wallpaper had also been on the internal drive, it becomes unavailable as well. When you unplug, after a few moments it should go back to normal.

So this is a well-known problem? Voldenuit did you see this too?

This is not a problem, it's by design. USB mass storage mode puts the control squarely in the hands of the USB host (in this case, the PC you're connecting the phone to), so the phone makes sure that all file handles are free. The phone memory (C:\) is still accessible to the phone as it is read-only in mass storage mode. Since you can manage files in Ovi Suite mode from a PC with Explorer, you can still have your cake and eat it too. The only time you should need mass storage mode is if you're using an application on the PC that needs a drive letter*.

Flying Fox wrote:Nice find. I will have to check it out. Too bad there is no setting for PDF files in the "default application" setting though. Can I open the PDF with AlternateReader when I am under FileManager?

Goto Settings-->Application settings --> Default applications --> Advanced options and you will find additional options for file types including PDFs. I guess this Arcane menu diving can be frustrating, at least it keeps noobs from wrecking their phone unintentionally?

Flying Fox wrote:Another bug: have anyone seen Battery Monitor showing "Analyzing... Active usage time (-1%)"? I am staring at it right now and I wonder if you guys have seen it too. At one point I uninstalled the app and reinstalled. It seemed to come back. Now it is just normal use and I am just a little less than 10% battery left and it's going crazy on me again.

NBM is definitely a buggy app.

* CAVEAT: it's also useful for tinkering to get at hidden metadata files and directories when you're trying to fix something that broke.

Anandtech updated their web browsing numbers Now it doesnt look half-bad really.I have asked to just verify whether they did wifi throughput tests with power saving off or not. Hopefully they will look into it as well.

The el-cheapo fabric case I had was starting to fray. The build and materials are very high quality - the outer material is a tough textured fabric over a stiff base, and the insides are lined with soft suede. It has cutouts for the camera and the camera/speaker housing is raised enough that the speaker is not muffled when you place it on a hard surface - a problematic flaw in my previous soft case. The bronze color looks quite handsome with the orange phone.

Only problem is that it obscures the charging port, so I have to take it out to charge or charge over USB.

Oh, and there is just enough clearance over the menu button that you can see it flashing if you've a missed call/message/email. Nice.

OK, so I've done a bit of testing with the updated video playback with subtitle support.

GOOD NEWS:It works. Subs are very legible. Subs will automatically play as long as they are in the same directory and have the same filename as the video file.

BAD NEWS:It's very restrictive. It only works with external (.SRT and .SUB) subs. Trying to play a .mkv file with muxed softsubs (in .SRT format) crashed the player. After that, the video playback codec refused to work until the phone was rebooted.

For the most part, it's a checkbox feature. The extremely limited compatibility and lack of graceful recovery means that you'll probably never bother to use your N8 to play all those foreign movies and TV shows you watch. Or even SDH subs.

Voldenuit wrote:OK, so I've done a bit of testing with the updated video playback with subtitle support.

GOOD NEWS:It works. Subs are very legible. Subs will automatically play as long as they are in the same directory and have the same filename as the video file.

BAD NEWS:It's very restrictive. It only works with external (.SRT and .SUB) subs. Trying to play a .mkv file with muxed softsubs (in .SRT format) crashed the player. After that, the video playback codec refused to work until the phone was rebooted.

For the most part, it's a checkbox feature. The extremely limited compatibility and lack of graceful recovery means that you'll probably never bother to use your N8 to play all those foreign movies and TV shows you watch. Or even SDH subs.

Looks like something else (other than subtitles) was fixed too. One video that I could not play earlier plays now.

It improves integration of contacts with facebook, and allows you to upload 4 MP pictures to FB (the max image size FB hosts). There is speculation among the N8 community that flickr integration is coming, as one user noticed a new '\flickr' directory in his communities-pics folder (I haven't set up Ovi share, so don't have that folder).

BTW that camera is fabulous. GSMArena wasn't kidding around when they said this was the phone to get for snapping photos. I'm still not getting a Nokia touchscreen, though - ever since the colour phones came out, their interface has become extremely weird. I'm still on a 1100, and to me its interface is pretty intuitive.

BTW that camera is fabulous. GSMArena wasn't kidding around when they said this was the phone to get for snapping photos.

The camera's pretty good, it's as good as a high end compact, with a few provisos - prime lens and a max ISO of 800. Otherwise, it's great (although macro focus can be touch and go).

I'm still not getting a Nokia touchscreen, though - ever since the colour phones came out, their interface has become extremely weird. I'm still on a 1100, and to me its interface is pretty intuitive.

Coming off a Nokia N70 and a Sony Symbian S40 phone, the N8 was a bit of a learning curve, but once I've become acclimatised to the phone, it's a pretty decent UI. Certainly a lot more usable than the N70 was, although you'd expect that since it's 4 years on. Symbian^3 isn't as accessible as iOS, but it's a lot more feature rich and powerful - better multitasking, file manager, usb host, app sideloading, widgets, multiple home screens, SD card hotmount etc.

Well the bad news is that now I don't think any new developers will come to Symbian. I am still happy with the device though but I guess I will not recommend any Symbian devices any longer to people looking for a phone.

codedivine wrote:Well the bad news is that now I don't think any new developers will come to Symbian. I am still happy with the device though but I guess I will not recommend any Symbian devices any longer to people looking for a phone.

Yeah, developers are furious now that Qt has no apparent future with mobile phones, unless MeeGo matures fast enough (come on Intel, Nokia is not going to help you anymore) to give them a tablet option quick. The logical, non-hype-driven (read: smart) buyers will look at it this way: at least the N8 is still good with its camera; if she needs a good photo-zapper and can get the phone cheap with a 2-year contract, it is still a viable buy. The lower-end devices though? Not sure anymore. Of course, most of the buying public are illogical and hype-driven, so sales will plummet and they are warning investors in the "transition" PR already.

The Model M is not for the faint of heart. You either like them or hate them.

It adds a point revision to the web browser, landscape dialer, improved mail and GPS integration and editing capability to the office suite.

Finally got an update on mine. Mail application is significantly faster to connect now which is great. A more visible "new mail" icon has been added to the mail widget though the icon does not always work properly. Wifi icon has changed slightly. I think, but not sure about, that the RAM usage has gone down slightly too.Also updated Ovi Maps to 3.6 finally from Ovi Store and seems quite good.In other news, visited some friends in another town and took a lot of photos. Friends were quite amazed with the photos the N8 took and I was able to take a lot of impromptu fun (but still good quality) photos thanks to a camera always being in my pocket. Tried some video recording too and the quality was pretty good even in relatively low-light indoor situations. People also appreciated the speaker which is loud enough to fill a small room so not bad for sharing tunes with your friends. Overall, N8 has been a good "life-gadget". I am also getting a Motorola Milestone thanks to a special deal running at a carrier (free on 1 year contract) so will be able to see how the N8 compares to Android for day-to-day use.

codedivine wrote:Anyone gotten Anna on their handsets yet? I am still waiting for an update. Sorry for the necro, but seemed like the most appropriate thread to post this

Yes, I've been running Anna on my phone for almost a week now. I'm located in NA, but bought my phone (unlocked) overseas, so that may be why I'm getting the update early.

I've gotten the portrait QWERTY keyboard working (both in Swype and without), but haven't been able to get the keyboard overlay to work - some ppl say that the KB overlay only works with swype disabled, but I haven't seen it even after uninstalling Swype and rebooting. It may also be a language thing, but I'm using english, so you'd think that would be supported.

The new homescreen animations are very iphone/android-like, and what should have shipped in the first place.

Maps 3.6 gets traffic support and the ability to reroute to avoid congestion. It's supposed to allow scrolling in navigation, but I haven't got that working either.

I've had no stability issues in either getting or installing Anna, but I haven't been able to get 100% of the promised functionality. Still, it's a worthwhile update (although I don't like the new UI aesthetic).